History Main / Deconstruction

* ''Theatre/MButterfly'' is a no-holds-barred deconstruction of the "[[MightyWhiteyAndMellowYellow Oriental woman submissive to her white man]]" trope that ''MadameButterfly'' codified, with [[spoiler:a male Chinese spy disguised as a woman deliberately invoking this trope to get a French diplomat to fall in love with him]] and pointing out that Asian women are generally no more modest or demure than other women in real life.

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* ''Theatre/MButterfly'' is a no-holds-barred deconstruction of the "[[MightyWhiteyAndMellowYellow Oriental woman submissive to her white man]]" trope that ''MadameButterfly'' ''Theatre/MadameButterfly'' codified, with [[spoiler:a male Chinese spy disguised as a woman deliberately invoking this trope to get a French diplomat to fall in love with him]] and pointing out that Asian women are generally no more modest or demure than other women in real life.

* The first episode of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' [[DeconstructiveParody comically]] deconstructs the entire underlying concept of the ''Franchise/MyLittlePony'' franchise, [[GenreDeconstruction and similar "little girls' shows" in general]], by focusing on a cynical loner stuck in a SugarBowl where everyone else seemingly lives in perfect harmony. The other ponies' attempts to befriend her come off as antagonistic insanity to Twilight, and the fact that her peers are too absorbed by their joviality to take notice of the incoming SugarApocalypse doesn't help. The episode closes with a DownerEnding in which the fantasy setting that enables the existence of this too-perfect world [[CrapsaccharineWorld comes back to bite it]] in the [[HoldYourHippogriffs flank]] in the form of a MadGod seeking [[OmnicidalManiac omnicidal vengeance]] [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds against the world that wronged her]], with Twilight left helpless to do anything about it and no less alone than she was before. Thankfully, [[DeconReconSwitch the next episode]] is spent [[{{Reconstruction}} reconstructing]] all the ideas that Part 1 dismantled.** The means by which [[GodOfEvil Discord]] [[CorruptTheCutie corrupts the mane cast]] in the Season 2 premiere are designed to demonstrate the flaws inherent in their Elements of Harmony, thus picking up where the show's second episode left off by [[ZigZaggingTrope re-deconstructing]] ThePowerOfFriendship. As the ponies all see for themselves, sometimes Honesty can prove [[GoMadFromTheRevelation more painful than deceit]], Laughter can be [[CircleOfShame a cruel thing]], {{greed}} can reap rewards that Generosity can't hope to match, your Kindness can [[TheWoobie fail to help you in the face of the world's unfairness]], conflicting Loyalties can force you to [[SadisticChoice choose one at the price of abandoning the other]], and even [[ThePowerOfFriendship the Magic of friendship]] can be reduced to so much worthless tripe when [[WeUsedToBeFriends your friends turn on you]]. Though Discord used subtle (in all but one case) but powerful brainwashing to achieve these effects, and in the end, he is HoistByHisOwnPetard and defeated because he thought his victory was assured.** "Lesson Zero" deconstructs the OnceAnEpisode [[AndKnowingIsHalfTheBattle lesson-learning]] nature of [[EdutainmentShow the show]]. Twilight Sparkle realizes that she hasn't learned a lesson this week, and she only has a day left to write her weekly "friendship report" to Princess Celestia. After futile attempts to find some problem to solve, she ends up [[SanitySlippage cracking under the pressure]] and creating a ConflictBall for her to resolve, which quickly escalates beyond her control.** "A Canterlot Wedding" deconstructs the concept of [[WhatTheHellHero calling out a hero on something they wouldn't normally do]]. While Twilight accusing Princess Cadence of being evil after seeing the KickTheDog moments on a lot of her friends, abandoning her while she realized her the gravity of her actions was a bit much. [[spoiler:Made even worse the the impostor was nearly able to take over Canterlot because of the conflict.]]** "Magical Mystery Cure" takes on the more disturbing implications of the "cutie mark" concept, i.e. what if somepony got stuck with one that didn't suit them? Twilight casts a spell that inadvertently switches the cutie marks of the rest of the Mane Six around, resulting in all of them being thoroughly miserable but determined to stick it out in their new jobs simply BecauseDestinySaysSo. Twilight realizes that to fix the situation, she has to convince them all to ScrewDestiny and do what they want rather than what their cutie mark tells them.*** Still, the episode takes care to pull yet another DeconReconSwitch at the end when Twilight goes along with her own "destiny" being seemingly forced upon her because, much like a genuine cutie mark, it's something she truly wants.** On a less broad note, various episodes revolve around breaking down the personality traits of their central characters that usually fall under the RuleOfFunny/[[RuleOfCool Cool]] umbrella. For example, "Party of One" and "A Friend In Deed" give a rather thoughtful take on Pinkie Pie's emotional vulnerability as an extreme extrovert; in the first, she suffers a psychotic breakdown when her friends seemingly reject her and the constant-party lifestyle she uses as a means of self-validation, while she spends the second continuously chasing the one Ponyville resident who refuses to be her friend. Among some of the others are "The Mysterious Mare Do Well" for Rainbow Dash, "Putting Your Hoof Down" for Fluttershy, and "Sweet and Elite" for Rarity.** DudeWheresMyRespect is deconstructed in the Season Five Finale. The BigBad travels to the past and breaks up the Mane Six before they ever had the chance of meeting. This results in various timelines where [[VillainWorld several villains have won]]. By the time she was confronted with this, Equestria is nothing more than a desert wasteland. Her reasons for breaking up the Mane Six was out of revenge for foiling her in the Season Five Premiere; she was unable to comprehend that six ponies that no one knew about originally had such an impact on the world.

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* The first episode of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' [[DeconstructiveParody comically]] deconstructs the entire underlying concept of the ''Franchise/MyLittlePony'' franchise, [[GenreDeconstruction and similar "little girls' shows" in general]], by focusing on a cynical loner stuck in a SugarBowl where everyone else seemingly lives in perfect harmony. The other ponies' attempts to befriend her come off as antagonistic insanity to Twilight, and the fact that her peers are too absorbed by their joviality to take notice of the incoming SugarApocalypse doesn't help. The episode closes with a DownerEnding in which the fantasy setting that enables the existence of this too-perfect world [[CrapsaccharineWorld comes back to bite it]] in the [[HoldYourHippogriffs flank]] in the form of a MadGod seeking [[OmnicidalManiac omnicidal vengeance]] [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds against the world that wronged her]], with Twilight left helpless to do anything about it and no less alone than she was before. Thankfully, [[DeconReconSwitch the next episode]] is spent [[{{Reconstruction}} reconstructing]] all the ideas that Part 1 dismantled.** The means by which [[GodOfEvil Discord]] [[CorruptTheCutie corrupts the mane cast]] in the Season 2 premiere are designed to demonstrate the flaws inherent in their Elements of Harmony, thus picking up where the show's second episode left off by [[ZigZaggingTrope re-deconstructing]] ThePowerOfFriendship. As the ponies all see for themselves, sometimes Honesty can prove [[GoMadFromTheRevelation more painful than deceit]], Laughter can be [[CircleOfShame a cruel thing]], {{greed}} can reap rewards that Generosity can't hope to match, your Kindness can [[TheWoobie fail to help you in the face of the world's unfairness]], conflicting Loyalties can force you to [[SadisticChoice choose one at the price of abandoning the other]], and even [[ThePowerOfFriendship the Magic of friendship]] can be reduced to so much worthless tripe when [[WeUsedToBeFriends your friends turn on you]]. Though Discord used subtle (in all but one case) but powerful brainwashing to achieve these effects, and in the end, he is HoistByHisOwnPetard and defeated because he thought his victory was assured.** "Lesson ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic ''Lesson Zero" deconstructs the OnceAnEpisode [[AndKnowingIsHalfTheBattle lesson-learning]] nature of [[EdutainmentShow the show]]. Twilight Sparkle realizes that she hasn't learned a lesson this week, and she only has a day left to write her weekly "friendship report" to Princess Celestia. After futile attempts to find some problem to solve, she ends up [[SanitySlippage cracking under the pressure]] and creating a ConflictBall for her to resolve, which quickly escalates beyond her control.** "A Canterlot Wedding" deconstructs the concept of [[WhatTheHellHero calling out a hero on something they wouldn't normally do]]. While Twilight accusing Princess Cadence of being evil after seeing the KickTheDog moments on a lot of her friends, abandoning her while she realized her the gravity of her actions was a bit much. [[spoiler:Made even worse the the impostor was nearly able to take over Canterlot because of the conflict.]]** "Magical Mystery Cure" takes on the more disturbing implications of the "cutie mark" concept, i.e. what if somepony got stuck with one that didn't suit them? Twilight casts a spell that inadvertently switches the cutie marks of the rest of the Mane Six around, resulting in all of them being thoroughly miserable but determined to stick it out in their new jobs simply BecauseDestinySaysSo. Twilight realizes that to fix the situation, she has to convince them all to ScrewDestiny and do what they want rather than what their cutie mark tells them.*** Still, the episode takes care to pull yet another DeconReconSwitch at the end when Twilight goes along with her own "destiny" being seemingly forced upon her because, much like a genuine cutie mark, it's something she truly wants.** On a less broad note, various episodes revolve around breaking down the personality traits of their central characters that usually fall under the RuleOfFunny/[[RuleOfCool Cool]] umbrella. For example, "Party of One" and "A Friend In Deed" give a rather thoughtful take on Pinkie Pie's emotional vulnerability as an extreme extrovert; in the first, she suffers a psychotic breakdown when her friends seemingly reject her and the constant-party lifestyle she uses as a means of self-validation, while she spends the second continuously chasing the one Ponyville resident who refuses to be her friend. Among some of the others are "The Mysterious Mare Do Well" for Rainbow Dash, "Putting Your Hoof Down" for Fluttershy, and "Sweet and Elite" for Rarity.** DudeWheresMyRespect is deconstructed in the Season Five Finale. The BigBad travels to the past and breaks up the Mane Six before they ever had the chance of meeting. This results in various timelines where [[VillainWorld several villains have won]]. By the time she was confronted with this, Equestria is nothing more than a desert wasteland. Her reasons for breaking up the Mane Six was out of revenge for foiling her in the Season Five Premiere; she was unable to comprehend that six ponies that no one knew about originally had such an impact on the world.control.

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' takes a rather realistic look at InterspeciesRomance. Steven is the son of Greg Universe, a human man, and Rose Quartz, a [[NoBiologicalSex female-looking]] [[BizarreAlienBiology sentient crystal with a "body" made of hard light]] who had already been alive for [[TimeAbyss several thousand years]] before meeting Greg. At the start of their relationship, Greg has issues seeing himself as worthy of Rose's attention, while Rose proves him right by legitimately caring for him while treating him with the kind of respect a human would show to a trick-performing dog. It's implied that things got much better down the line, but that it took a lot of hard work and education on both their parts.** It also deconstructs the idea of otherworldly heroes. The Crystal Gems sacrifice a lot to protect Earth, and they have humanity's best interests at heart, but they're also borderline [[SmugSuper Smug Supers]] who keep their distance from humans at best, and outright belittle them at worst, while showing very little concern or respect for them or their culture, outside of protecting the planet. In other words, when all is said and done the Crystal Gems are ''still'' aliens.

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* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' takes ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': ** InterspeciesRomance and LoveAtFirstSight are given a rather pretty realistic look at InterspeciesRomance.take. Steven is the son of Greg Universe, a human man, and Rose Quartz, a [[NoBiologicalSex female-looking]] [[BizarreAlienBiology sentient crystal with a "body" made of hard light]] who had already been alive for [[TimeAbyss several thousand years]] before meeting Greg. Greg met Rose during an unsuccessful rock tour for his one-man band and she was charmed by his earnestness and music, while he was entranced by her beauty. At the start of their relationship, Greg has issues seeing himself as worthy of Rose's attention, while Rose proves him right by legitimately caring for him while treating him with him, but less as an equal partner and more in the kind of respect way a human would show to a trick-performing dog. It's implied Pearl confirms she's had several flings with other men, which ended the same way as she refers to Greg as just another of Rose's phases. While Gems can perform a FusionDance that things connects them into one being in ways a human can never understand, Greg proves he doesn't need it as having a hard, honest talk about how he feels is enough to get her to understand how she was acting and starts her on the path to understanding humans beyond their novelty. Things got much better down the line, but that it took a lot of hard work and education on both their parts.** It also deconstructs the idea of otherworldly heroes. The Crystal Gems sacrifice a lot to protect Earth, and they have humanity's best interests at heart, but they're also borderline [[SmugSuper Smug Supers]] who keep their distance from humans at best, and are GoodIsNotNice types that outright belittle them at worst, while showing very little concern or respect for them or their culture, outside of protecting the planet. In other words, when all is said and done the Crystal Gems are ''still'' aliens.aliens that have a hard time understanding their charges, though they're trying.** Love triangles and unrequited love get thoroughly taken apart. Pearl, the smug, jealous lover who blames Greg for Rose's functional nonexistence in many works would hate him for petty reasons and a toxic person. Not so, as a former member of a SlaveRace, she looked up to Rose with fanatical devotion as the first Gem who ever showed her any kindness. She developed an unhealthy obsession with keeping her safe, sacrificing herself constantly and feeling useless without her who defined her existence. When she's gone, Pearl is forced to redefine who she is as a person while going through many painfully accurate breakdowns motivated by her genuine feelings of love. Meanwhile Greg feels he can't do anything to help, while knowing how Pearl feels and believing things can't change. While they eventually start to mend fences, it takes a long time of CharacterDevelopment on Pearl's part to find common ground and it's acknowledged several times that her grief will never fully go away. Loved ones cannot be simply forgotten about, and even for the winner of a love triangle, it's still a painful process.

Reason: Several zero context and FIM examples are not deconstructions.

* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11574281/1/Shattered-Reflection Shattered Reflection]]'' By ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/u/1318050/Natzo Natzo]]'', a ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening'' fic, that shows how the Shepherds would naturally react to learning that their tactician was [[spoiler:a demon god that had destroyed the world in an alternate universe.]] It goes further with a bit of time travel taking the lead character to another version of the world to keep her tragic fate from befalling her sibling.* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11962940/1/ A Brighter Dark]]'' By ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/u/3371139/DeathDealer-Inc DeathDealer Inc]]'', a ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'' retelling, that alters a few characters (and entire countries') personalities to what they would logically be in that setting and then shows how events would play out in that setting.

* ''Discworld/{{Hogfather}}'' deconstructs several Christmas tropes, and in particular heavily critiques both ''Literature/TheLittleMatchGirl'' and the story of Wenceslas. In the former, Albert explains that the match girl's death serves to make others grateful for what little they have because at least they're not freezing to death in the snow. Death is having none of it and uses LoopholeAbuse to bring her back to life before leaving her in the safe hands of the Watch. In the latter, the king is trying to give food to a man who ''already has a meal'' and would just have to throw the king's gift away. It's pointed out that the king is only being charitable to make himself feel better and that one night of charity doesn't make up for being a neglectful ruler the rest of the year.

* The B plot of ''Series/{{Community}}'' episode [[Recap/CommunityS1E24EnglishAsASecondLanguage English as a Second Language]] is a deconstruction of ''GoodWillHunting''. Abed pulls a paraphrasing of Ben Affleck's "the best part of my day" speech from ''Good Will Hunting'' on Troy, to try to get him to 'use his gift' and become a plumber. The next day, Abed turns to find that Troy is no longer sitting next to him in class... but not because he's inspired and has dropped out, but because Troy has switched seats because he's offended that his best friend would actually think the prospect of him just leaving without a word would be the best part of his day. Turns out, that would actually be a really horrible and offensive thing to say to a friend, no matter how gifted.

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* The B plot of ''Series/{{Community}}'' episode [[Recap/CommunityS1E24EnglishAsASecondLanguage English as a Second Language]] is a deconstruction of ''GoodWillHunting''.''Film/GoodWillHunting''. Abed pulls a paraphrasing of Ben Affleck's "the best part of my day" speech from ''Good Will Hunting'' on Troy, to try to get him to 'use his gift' and become a plumber. The next day, Abed turns to find that Troy is no longer sitting next to him in class... but not because he's inspired and has dropped out, but because Troy has switched seats because he's offended that his best friend would actually think the prospect of him just leaving without a word would be the best part of his day. Turns out, that would actually be a really horrible and offensive thing to say to a friend, no matter how gifted.

** It also deconstructs the idea of otherworldly heroes. The Crystal Gems sacrifice a lot to protect Earth, and they have humanity's best interests at heart, but they're also borderline [[Smug Supers SmugSuper]] who keep their distance from humans at best, and outright belittle them at worst, while showing very little concern or respect for them or their culture, outside of protecting the planet. In other words, when all is said and done the Crystal Gems are ''still'' aliens.

to:

** It also deconstructs the idea of otherworldly heroes. The Crystal Gems sacrifice a lot to protect Earth, and they have humanity's best interests at heart, but they're also borderline [[Smug Supers SmugSuper]] [[SmugSuper Smug Supers]] who keep their distance from humans at best, and outright belittle them at worst, while showing very little concern or respect for them or their culture, outside of protecting the planet. In other words, when all is said and done the Crystal Gems are ''still'' aliens.

** It also deconstructs the idea of otherworldly heroes. The Crystal Gems sacrifice a lot to protect Earth, and they have humanity's best interests at heart, but they're also borderline [[Smug Supers SmugSuper]] who keep their distance from humans at best, and outright belittle them at worst, while showing very little concern or respect for them or their culture, outside of protecting the planet. In other words, when all is said and done the Crystal Gems are ''still'' aliens.

** ''LightNovel/FateZero'' deconstructs the dark and edgy NecessarilyEvil / IDidWhatIHadToDo AntiHero, by showing you how screwed up a person would have to be to embrace willingly that sort of mindset, not just as a last resort, but as the ONLY one, through Kiritsugu Emiya, and how his excesses ended up costing him everything in the end with nothing to show for it but saving his future adopted son, Shirou Emiya.

to:

** ''LightNovel/FateZero'' deconstructs the dark and edgy NecessarilyEvil / IDidWhatIHadToDo AntiHero, by showing you how screwed up a person would have to be to embrace willingly that sort of mindset, not just as a last resort, but as the ONLY one, through Kiritsugu Emiya, and how his excesses ended up costing him everything in the end with nothing to show for it but saving his future adopted son, [[TheHero Shirou Emiya.Emiya]].

** ''LightNovel/FateZero'' deconstructs the dark and edgy TheEndsJustifiesTheMeans / IDidWhatIHadToDo AntiHero, by showing you how screwed up a person would have to be to embrace willingly that sort of mindset, not just as a last resort, but as the ONLY one, through Kiritsugu Emiya, and how his excesses ended up costing him everything in the end with nothing to show for it but saving his future adopted son, Shirou Emiya.

to:

** ''LightNovel/FateZero'' deconstructs the dark and edgy TheEndsJustifiesTheMeans NecessarilyEvil / IDidWhatIHadToDo AntiHero, by showing you how screwed up a person would have to be to embrace willingly that sort of mindset, not just as a last resort, but as the ONLY one, through Kiritsugu Emiya, and how his excesses ended up costing him everything in the end with nothing to show for it but saving his future adopted son, Shirou Emiya.

** ''LightNovel/FateZero'' deconstructs the dark and edgy EndsJustifiesTheMeans / IDidWhatIHadToDo AntiHero, by showing you how screwed up a person would have to be to embrace willingly that sort of mindset, not just as a last resort, but as the ONLY one, through Kiritsugu Emiya, and how his excesses ended up costing him everything in the end with nothing to show for it but saving his future adopted son, Shirou Emiya.

to:

** ''LightNovel/FateZero'' deconstructs the dark and edgy EndsJustifiesTheMeans TheEndsJustifiesTheMeans / IDidWhatIHadToDo AntiHero, by showing you how screwed up a person would have to be to embrace willingly that sort of mindset, not just as a last resort, but as the ONLY one, through Kiritsugu Emiya, and how his excesses ended up costing him everything in the end with nothing to show for it but saving his future adopted son, Shirou Emiya.

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